Bienvenitos. That's California for welcome to the January 22nd edition of National Review's Radio Free California podcast. I'm Will Swam. I'm CEO of the California Policy Center.

You can find my colleagues and me at California PolicyCenter.org.

You can find my friend and co-host David Bonson right here.

He's an economist, the host of the Capitol Record podcast.

He's also author of the book, Full Time, Work and the Meaning of Life.

And, of course, he's founder of the eponymous investment from the Bonson Group. Hello, David. Hello, Will, back in person. First time at 2026. I've been in New York all year. Are you going to be in the studio for the rest of the year now? This is it? You're coming to would like I would like to make this our last time

ever it's hard my wife says the same thing not about you about just being here but yeah no

we'll you know same time travel I mean a lot of there's a ton of travel coming up I'll be you know

I don't know we I'll know where I am week by week and when we can be together, that will be the bright spot.

Yeah.

Like if I have to be here and eat this pitiful food, I will at least say I got to record with Will in person.

Okay.

Well, David, there is so much to get to.

You've traveled a lot.

Do you find it funny when Southern Californians talk about how good a certain, like, Italian restaurant? You don't think it's a little weird? You know me. I'm not a food guy, right? Oh, okay. You know, my lunch today, as almost every day, this will really interest our listeners, I know, but my lunch is typically, I cook a bunch of chicken on a Sunday. I bring bags of spinach from Trader Joe's. I eat spinach out of a bag and chopped up chicken. So you're a eat-to-live person, not live to eat. That's right. Yeah. Okay. Coffee is my great excess. David, I'll just do a very quick take on history because you'll see here. I've written like 450,000 words on... Did you see that guy who wrote us and said you should do a whole episode devoted to the... Well, he wants it every week. Yeah, and what a sweet guy. His name is Ian, and Ian suggested that we should just do a radio-free California history edition. Oh, maybe that's not the same thing I saw. I thought I saw someone who wanted you to do like a one-time thing. Oh, just one time? Oh, sure.

I don't know.

Maybe I'm... history edition. Oh, maybe that's not the same thing I saw. I thought I saw someone who wanted you to do like a one-time thing.

Oh, just one time?

Oh, sure. Well, I don't know. Maybe I read it too fast. We could do that. I think people get enough here. I wanted to talk just today about Johnny Otis. And I don't know how many of our listeners, David, does the name ring any bells? Bells. He's an R&B star. He's in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I listened to

Johnny Otis first when he had a radio show on KPFK. That's the Pacifica radio station in L.A.

What was the frequency? What is, boy, I'm Blanca now. It's FM? Yeah, it's FM.

What is KPFK? 90.7, I think. Brian will know. That was K&X. I don't remember. No, K&X is an AM station, right? Oh, you're right. But anyway, the Johnny Oda Show. I was an undergrad at FC. I'm playing in a punk band, but I get hooked on this guy who is clearly from his voice black and he's playing a lot of black music, by which I mean mostly R&B by black artists.

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